Rainbow Festival growing in popularity

THE LATEST Rainbow Festival was the perfect answer to those who say migrants are a problem in society, said KISA President Doros Michail yesterday.
Speaking of the annual celebration of multiculturalism held in Nicosia on Sunday, the head of the migrant support group said the festival’s success reinforced its motto, that “migrants produce wealth, racists just fear”.
“When we say wealth, we mean both in terms of the economy, as studies have shown, but also culture,” said Michail.
The festival is growing year-on-year in popularity and confidence, this year offering five and a half hours of continuous cultural programmes, with live song and dance performed by people from all over the world, including Palestinians, Sri Lankans, Filipinos, Bangladeshis, Nepalese, Kurds, Greek Cypriot, Turkish Cypriot, Pontians, Cameroonians and Congolese.
The recent onslaught of poor weather left the organisers scrambling for a massive tent to cover the park area underneath Eleftheria Square a day before the event. On the day, hundreds of people crammed inside the big white tent to watch the unique performances, like the dancing lady from Myanmar or the Filipino singing Anna Vishi songs in Greek. Those who couldn’t fit inside hovered around the numerous food stalls offering diverse cuisine from around the world, including momos (steamed dumplings) in a hot source and spicy lentil cakes. 
“There was this Sri Lankan woman singing without accompaniment, just her voice, two songs in Greek. They were really sad, about having your children abroad, it tugged at your heartstrings,” said Rachael Gillett who attended the festival. 
The highlight was when Stavros Stavrou Karayanni, an academic with the European University Cyprus, performed his belly dancing gig. “When he came on, these Syrian guys were aghast, then he jumped off stage and went into the crowd, got everybody dancing with him and the Syrians warmed up to him. He was very good,” she said.
Michail said both the participants and audience showed a lot of enthusiasm on the day, despite the rain. The number of Greek Cypriot attendees remained at the same low levels as last year, but the “massive participation of migrants” made the Greek Cypriots even less visible. “Sometimes, it’s not so easy to tell who is a Cypriot and who is a migrant. There was a very good mixture,” he said.
A KISA volunteer told the Cyprus Mail that the festival took two months of preparations with the help of volunteers and representatives of the various ethnic groups.
“Some are really interested in performing every year, but others you have to beg them to show up and then when they do, they don’t want to get off stage. Last year, we had to pull the sound system plug on one group and they still wouldn’t get off,” they said.
More official interest is now being shown in the 12-year festival, with sponsorships from the Ministries of Interior and Education, the Youth Board and Cytamobile Vodaphone. Those who missed Nicosia’s party can catch the Limassol Rainbow Festival at Molos this Sunday from 11am to 5pm.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.